posted 11-20-2002 02:43 AM PT (US) 1) Cate Blanchett is proof that a woman need not be attractive to make it in Hollywood.2) Joseph Fiennes is repulsive - but I have a hunch that women find him attractive anyway.3) Catholic vs Protestant...KILL KILL KILL!!!4) I have no snacks to eat during this movie...hmm...maybe some grapes. Hey, wait...I was busy making coffee....5) Humans have a beyond Klingon capacity for barbarism.6) Elizabeth and Lt. Commander Data wear identical make-up.7) Such a beautiful building, such a beautiful ceremony, such beautiful clothing - and, yet, watching, I'm reminded that they had no toilet paper and likely none of them had a bath in the last month.8) Even during the Rennaissance, women looked at men as if they were...meat.9) Okay...now that ugly guy is seducing the queen...but, was she not known as The Virgin Queen?! Hollywood sucks.10) They portray Elizabeth as being hysterical and...out of her element...over her head. That's annoying.11) Man, that coffee is awesome. I just wish I could remember which kind I bought.12) I keep poor notes.

posted 11-20-2002 12:09 PM PT (US)
*Takes glue from Ouro and helps him with his notes* ;P1.)Cate Blanchett can act however, and that is a prerequisite to making it in Hollywood. She may not attract you Ouro, but she is pretty in her own way.She played this part better than anyone else could have. She was just stunning in this performance as Elizabeth and she was great in LOTR too.2.) Look to see the what the Queen looked like. Cate was perfect looking for the part.

3.)Ok, she was a virgin...was she really now? I think the movie kind of tried to show how it really was for her. Remember that Elizabeth encouraged a belief in her virginity, but expressed her willingness to marry for her country. This led to a dual reputation which was very apparent during her reign. Her society demanded chastity from unmarried women. But many of her subjects believed rumors of her promiscuity. Her marriageability was an important political tool insure the balance between the powers of Catholic and Protestant religions. Even literature of the day reflects on it.

Frances A. Yates alludes to a key speech in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (12.1.155-64) to explain the political usefulness of Elizabeth’s marriageability:

"The virginity of the queen was used as a powerful political weapon all through her reign. Many foreign potentates hoped to win her hand. She coquetted with them, played them off against one another, and never married. Whatever the love shafts aimed at her, the imperial votaress passed on, in maiden meditation, fancy free. (86-87)"

4.)It was this being able to remain fancy free that made her so successful in her 45 year reign. Believe this, without her to create a balance there would have been way more killing over religion than there was.

5.)No, her and Lt. Data do not wear the same make-up...his is Maybelline and hers in Erno Lazlo but the pastiness almost seems to be of the same quality. 6. Hey they had water and they heated it up and took baths....lots of them to make up for no toilet paper. ;)

Ouroboros

posted 11-20-2002 02:37 PM PT (US)
Cate Blanchett is, really, beautiful to the extreme. However, it's her inner beauty - and a very rare, refined, and precious inner beauty - coming out which is responsible for her beauty.

She lacks superficial beauty.

(But which is better?)

Gladrial

posted 11-21-2002 08:25 AM PT (US)
I think inner beauty is ever more rare and special than merely looking good.

Kat

posted 11-21-2002 01:57 PM PT (US)
I am still grouchy over her losing a Oscar to Gwyneth in 'Shakespeare in Love'. That suggests the Oscars are politically motivated rather than based on skill in acting.

Cate is a very good actress, She certainly is a refreshing break from the Hollywood set. (Though I still think Glad would make a better Galadrial in LOTR).

Ouroboros

posted 11-23-2002 01:21 PM PT (US)
I think that Paltrow deserved it - she's one of the best actresses around right now.

Cate is pretty good, but there weren't really any particularly...dramatic...and difficult to act parts in that movie, were there?

But, you're right, those awards seem to have some level of political motivation. I mean, hell, Kate Winslet was nominated for best actress for her role in Titanic, was she not? How silly was that?

Gladrial

posted 11-25-2002 10:30 AM PT (US)
Thanks for thinking so, Kat. I would have gotten to come to New Zealand for the filming and that WOULD have been FUN! I have to let you two work this one out. For every person you find with one point of view, there are two with another view. The job those judges have, to make the choices for the awards, must be tough. I am so glad I am so glad I don't have to decide anything important. :p LOL

Is it a good movie? Yes, very much so. Is the acting excellent? Truly. Yet, in the end, it is simply entertaining - I found nothing in it that I could take with me to affect me personally after it was over.

Sad, really.

Gladrial

posted 12-02-2002 08:25 AM PT (US)
Ouroboros, maybe the excitement of your own life will lead to you writing great literature. You never know.

Ouroboros

posted 12-02-2002 08:49 AM PT (US)
There actually is something in that movie that I've taken with me:

"You have no soul, so how can you understand the emptiness that seeks a soulmate?"--the character of William Shakespear in Shakespeare in Love